


In Plain Sight

by lamardeuse



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-20
Updated: 2010-05-20
Packaged: 2017-10-09 14:49:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/88575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamardeuse/pseuds/lamardeuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day they repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Rodney marched into John's office and dragged him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Plain Sight

**Author's Note:**

> For The Grrrl.

The day they repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Rodney marched into John's office and dragged him out. John dug in his heels, vaguely terrified that Rodney was going to French kiss him in the middle of the gate room.

“Come _on_,” Rodney snapped, tugging on John's arm. “Before Woolsey changes his mind.”

“Changes his mind about what?” John asked.

“I just got us two weeks' R and R,” Rodney said.

John managed to wrest his arm out of Rodney's vise-like grip. “How the hell did you do that?”

“I told him you were on the edge of a nervous breakdown,” Rodney said, folding his arms.

“You –”

“No, of course I didn't,” Rodney sighed, making a face. “Though I appreciate your faith in me. Look, what does it matter how? I told him we were due for a vacation. He agreed. It was fine.”

“We?” John said weakly, glancing at a Marine as she passed by. “Rodney –”

“John,” Rodney murmured, taking a step closer; John had to talk himself out of taking a corresponding step back. “We've been on vacations together before.”

“Yeah, but not – together, together.” They'd always made an effort to not be too obvious: a night on a hospitable planet with Ronon and Teyla accompanying them so that it became a team outing; separate flights to a big city, where they could preserve the fiction that they just happened to run into one another. Nobody was fooled, of course, but at least everyone could turn a blind eye.

Now, though, in the blink of that eye, everything had changed, and everything was out in the open, in a way it had never been in John's life. If he wanted to admit it, it was fucking terrifying, and he didn't honestly know why. It was a new kind of fear, because before today, the fear had been of being found out. But what the hell was he afraid of now that discovery wasn't an issue any more?

Before he could figure this out, he noticed that Rodney's face had fallen, and he was getting that pinched look around the eyes that showed he was hurt and therefore about to lash out to cover up the fact he was hurt. Just as Rodney was drawing breath to say something they'd both regret, John opened his mouth and said, “Okay.”

Rodney's mouth snapped shut and he frowned. “Okay?”

John forced himself to nod. “Okay. Let's blow this pop stand.”

Rodney stared at him, momentarily at a loss, and then John could practically see him switch gears. When he broke into a wide, happy grin, John's chest tightened and it was all he could do not to reach out and kiss Rodney right there in the middle of the corridor.

Which he guessed was something he could do now.

This was going to take a little getting used to.

  


    
    
    
    
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

    
    
    
    
 

  
They took the same flight out of San Francisco, adjoining seats in first class, where there was enough leg room for somebody even taller than Ronon, and there was always a helpful flight attendant ready to cater to your every whim.

“First class is the only way to go,” Rodney said, settling back on his fluffy airline pillow and closing his eyes.

“Uh-huh,” John said, watching the way Rodney's long eyelashes fluttered before coming to rest. _You can look now_, John told himself. _You can look all you want and nobody can say anything, or stop you, or try to take this away._

And so he did just that, not stopping until they touched down in Vancouver and Rodney's eyes opened again.

  


    
    
    
    
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

    
    
    
    
 

  
“Wow,” John said, taking in the cabin.

“Do you like it?” Rodney asked, voice clearly betraying his anxiety. “If you don't like it, we can go somewhere else.”

“No, this is – this is amazing,” John said, taking the broad steps to the sunken living room. When Rodney said they'd be staying at a ski resort, he figured a nice room in a hotel. He wasn't counting on a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired two-bedroom cabin all to themselves with a full kitchen and a whirlpool bath, perched near the summit of one of BC's fancier ski hills. This was taking 'resort' to a whole new level.

He turned to Rodney, who was looking tentatively pleased with himself, as though he wasn't sure if John was just being nice. Taking Rodney's hands in his, he pulled him closer until Rodney's mouth was inches from his own. “Thank you,” he murmured, closing the final distance between them.

    
    
    
    
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

    
    
    
    
 

“Okay, this was a great idea,” Rodney panted. "Seriously, I know it was my idea, but I'm not ashamed to say it: great idea."

John let his head fall back against the rim of the tub. He tried to make his brain work enough to form words, but it was kind of hard to do when Rodney's ass was snug around his cock and Rodney's big, solid body was sitting in his lap. “Mmmmnnnnnngggg,” he agreed.

Rodney grinned in a shockingly predatory way and swiveled his hips, and John had just enough time to reach up and tweak one of Rodney's nipples in retaliation before the world went fuzzy around the edges and the rest of John's brain dribbled out his ears.

  


    
    
    
    
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

    
    
    
    
 

  
As it turned out, they only skied once the whole two weeks.

John really didn't care all that much.

    
    
    
    
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

    
    
    
    
 

Their last night in the cabin, Rodney got strangely fidgety and agitated. John figured it was just a case of the back-to-work blues until Rodney got down on one knee in front of him after supper and took out a small velvet-covered case.

“Jesus Christ,” John breathed. “Rodney, you –”

“Oh, God, please don't interrupt me,” Rodney babbled. “I have this whole speech prepared. If that doesn't work, I have a PowerPoint presentation on my laptop.”

“Rodney, get up off the floor,” John said, hauling him to his feet and steering him over to the couch. Rodney went, the ring case – holy shit, the _ring case_ – clutched in one white-knuckled hand. He flopped down like a sack of potatoes, and John sat beside him, his gut churning.

“It's not –” John began, then closed his eyes briefly before continuing. “The thing is, I tried it before and it didn't work so well for either of us. It's not that I don't believe in it, exactly, but –”

“These are arguments I deal with in slides twenty-four through twenty-six,” Rodney said, staring straight ahead at the blazing fireplace, the light flickering across his face. “Just so you know.”

“Rodney, why do you – why do you always want to get married?” John asked softly.

Rodney turned toward him slowly, frowning. “I don't _always_ –”

“You do, though,” John said. “Katie. Jennifer.” He paused. “And now –”

“You,” Rodney finished for him, only it wasn't an ending so much as a beginning. Setting the case down on the couch, Rodney took a deep breath, then turned and took John's face in his hands. John looked into those blue, blue eyes and his heart started to bounce around in his chest. “Because I finally figured out what it was for. It's not for me, or for the other person. It's for both of us.”

John swallowed. “Which slide is that?” he rasped.

Rodney's hands slid away and he watched John for a long time, and John wished he could figure out what the hell he was seeing, because right now he didn't have a clue. Finally, Rodney picked up the case again and popped it open, revealing a simple silver ring. “John Sheppard,” Rodney said, voice trembling, “please be with me for as long as you can stand it.”

John looked down at the ring. It didn't look so bad.

“Could be a long time,” he murmured, taking Rodney's free hand in his.

Rodney let out a breath. “I'm counting on it,” he said fervently, pulling John into a kiss.

    
    
    
    
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

    
    
    
    
 

The minute Ronon saw the ring, he snorted. “Thought so,” he said.

“John,” Teyla said, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. “Congratulations.”

“Yeah,” John said, smiling against her shoulder. “Thanks.” When they parted, John surveyed the mess. A lot had changed in the past couple of weeks; over there in the corner, Mehta and Dr. Porter were deep in conversation, their eyes only for one another, Mehta's hand covering Porter's smaller one. There was another of his marines talking with one of the Dutch military guys, and their whole demeanor practically screamed _first date_.

It was pretty cool, and it suddenly occurred to John that this was the first time he'd really felt like the CO of all the military personnel on this expedition; like he could be their CO now, that he could finally give them all of himself.

And just like that, he wasn't afraid any more.

“Hey,” Rodney said, walking up to their table with his lunch tray. “What's going on?”

John turned and plucked Rodney's tray from his hands and set it on the table, and then he took Rodney's wide-eyed face in his hands and kissed him soundly on the mouth.

“Hi honey,” he murmured, smiling against Rodney's ear, “we're home.”

**Author's Note:**

> First published March 2009.


End file.
